Woman who shot parents seeks more privileges

BERNARDS TWP.  A former township woman who killed her parents
26 years ago was back in a Somerville courtroom on Monday, Nov. 27,
in a bid to gain greater freedom at a psychiatric facility. The
woman, Greta Suits-Sharon, now 47 and housed at Greystone Park
Psychiatric Hospital, appeared before state Superior Court Judge
Edward Coleman as part of an annual assessment. Suits-Sharon sought
authority to leave Greystone on occasion but Coleman left the
decisions to the hospital. The judge also denied a request for an
outside evaluation. Suits-Sharon, who has been diagnosed with
schizoaffective disorder with bipolar tendencies, was previously
released from a psychiatric facility 12 years ago but eventually
found trouble again and lost her freedom a second time. On Oct. 9,
1980, when the former Greta Suits was 21, her parents were found
fatally shot in the front seat of the family car in their garage on
Old Farm Road. The father, George Suits, 50, was in the drivers
seat and suffered two bullet wounds in his chest and one in his
head. The mother, Lisbeth Suits, 51, had one bullet wound in her
chest and one in her head behind her left temple. Authorities were
called to the scene by Greta Suits herself, who said there had been
a terrible accident at the home. Tracked down by phone calls,
Suits was arrested at a hotel in North Carolina the next day. Found
in her possession were a nine-shot .22 caliber revolver, the
familys two dogs, several personal diaries and the familys yellow
Fiat. The Suits had formerly lived in Tewksbury Township in
Hunterdon County from 1967 to 1976 before moving to Bernards
Township. George Suits was a mutual funds manager with Merrill
Lynch Pierce Fenner and Smith in Manhattan. Lisbeth Suits operated
an art gallery in Chester. The youngest of the couples four
children and their only daughter, Greta Suits attended North
Hunterdon and Voorhees high schools before transferring to Ridge
High School for her senior year. She was the sophomore class
president at North Hunterdon, and classmates and teachers at Ridge
described her as bright and attractive. She went on to major in
theater and music at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.,
but dropped out a month before the shootings. A sophomore, she was
not living with her parents at the time. Suits had a history of
mental illness and religious delusions beginning shortly after she
graduated from Ridge in 1977. Psychiatrists called to testify at
her trial called Suits psychotic, schizophrenic and paranoid. There
was also testimony that Suits suffered from religious delusions,
believing she was the Messiah at one point and the anti-Christ at
another. She also had an imaginary relationship with pop star Billy
Joel. Following a non-jury trial in Somerville in April 1981, state
Superior Court Judge Arthur Meredith ruled Suits innocent by reason
of insanity. Subsequent Freedom Suits remained a patient at Trenton
State Psychiatric Hospital, where she had been placed after her
arrest, but steadily gained privileges. In the fall of 1989, she
began to attend classes three days per week at Mercer County
College, and in January 1993 she was allowed to attend classes five
days per week at Cittorone Institute Business Training School. In
May 1994, after a court hearing in Somerville, state Superior Court
Judge Robert Guterl agreed with mental health experts who said
Suits had progressed to the point where she could be released. She
was discharged from Trenton Psychiatric on July 18, 1994, to live
independently in a Somerville apartment. In subsequent years she
wrote poems that still appear on three Internet web sites. In one,
featuring poems dated 1997, she described herself as a 38-year-old
single resident of Bound Brook who has been through great joy and
great agony in my life. A picture shows her playfully clutching a
cat. Suits later moved into a home in the Finderne section of
Bridgewater Township, which had been purchased with money from her
parents estate. She got married and occasionally taught music to
children. But after some misfortunes, including the loss of
personal journals in a flood, she stopped taking her medication,
according to authorities. In 2000, she set fire to the home and was
charged with aggravated arson. As a result, she was placed in
Ancora Psychiatric Hospital in Camden County in June 2002. She has
been institutionalized ever since. Her husband is now deceased. She
has three older brothers, all of whom live out of state. BERNARDS
TWP.  The townships Information-Technology (IT) Department has
been honored with a 2006 New Jersey Excellence in Technology Award.
The award, for the Best Application Serving a Public
Organizations Business Needs, recognized the development of the
townships ordinance and resolutions database in assisting
day-to-day operations. The database was created to help manage
thousands of township ordinances and resolutions created over the
years. The IT Department consists of Director Christopher Kyriacou,
Manager Hank Cheng and Personal Computer Technician Brandon
Griswold. The award was presented at the N.J. Digital Government
Summit in Trenton on Monday, Oct. 23, and was sponsored by the
Center for Digital Government and Government Technology
Magazine.

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